“The geriatric population is more susceptible to diseases such as
cardiac diseases, cerebral disorders, hypertension, arthritis, and
diabetes. It is also less expensive to receive the treatment at home.
The demand for portable medical devices is increasing as these devices
are more convenient and comfortable for home healthcare”

The market study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the
global portable
medical equipment marketfor 2017-2021. The report also
lists portable patient monitoring devices, portable medical imaging
devices, hearing aids, and insulin pumps as the four major segments, of
which portable patient monitoring devices was a major contributor to the
market in 2016.

Technavio’s sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple
sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers,
challenges, trends, and more.

Increase in geriatric population

Advances in healthcare technology and the availability of more efficient
treatment options have led to a rise in life expectancies, thereby
resulting in an increase in older population across the world. According
to the NIH, in 2015, approximately 8.5% of the global population or 617
million people were aged 65 and above.

“The geriatric population is more susceptible to diseases such as
cardiac diseases, cerebral disorders, hypertension, arthritis, and
diabetes. It is also less expensive to receive the treatment at home.
The demand for portable medical devices is increasing as these devices
are more convenient and comfortable for home healthcare,” says
Ramakrishna Edupulapati, a lead analyst at Technavio for orthopedics
and medical devices research.

Growing incidence of chronic diseases

The incidence of many chronic diseases such as CVDs, diabetes, COPDs,
ESRDs, urology disorders, and other chronic illnesses is increasing.
According to the CDC, in 2012, nearly 117 million people had one or more
chronic illnesses. In 2010, 68% of the healthcare expenditure was for
people with one or more chronic medical conditions. The global diabetic
population is estimated to increase to approximately 500 million by 2025.

As of 2014, approximately 4.6% of the global population had asthma. The
death toll of CVDs is estimated to cause approximately 19 million deaths
by 2020. These chronic diseases require portable medical devices to
monitor the severity of the patient's medical condition daily.
Therefore, the rise in the incidence of chronic illnesses will increase
the demand for portable medical devices.

Advances in technology

Advances in semiconductor technology have led to the development of
efficient and affordable portable medical devices that consume less
power and thereby have a longer battery life. Many portable handheld
medical devices have incorporated rechargeable batteries that deliver a
more convenient and cost effective long-term solution.

“Many manufacturers have integrated their devices with wireless
technologies such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, and
cloud-based technologies. Devices such as insulin pumps have seen
significant improvement as manufacturers are increasingly adopting
innovative technologies,” says Ramakrishna.

Medtronic has launched a smartphone app for its insulin pumps called the
'MiniMed Connect App,' which allows the user to monitor their pump and
glucose details via smartphones. The device also automatically sends an
SMS text alert to the user's emergency contact in case of very high or
low glucose levels. Many other manufacturers have also been able to
integrate wireless technology into their devices. For instance, iHealth
Lab developed a wireless blood pressure wrist monitor that can monitor
the heart activity of a patient. This device utilizes Bluetooth 4.0 BLE
to transfer data to an iOS device or a computer system through a USB
cable.

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